1. Field of The Invention
The invention herein pertains to footwear and particularly to socks as are worn by athletes during soccer games.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Objectives of the. Invention
With the growing numbers of adults and children participating in athletic contests such as soccer, basketball, baseball and other sports, it has become increasingly significant that injuries be prevented and/or at least minimized as possible. In sports which do not emphasize contact, such as soccer, basketball and others, protective equipment is needed to guard against inadvertent impact and injuries resulting therefrom. Soccer players are frequently struck along the shin areas of their legs during play which can result in cuts, bruises or even broken bones. To prevent such injuries, shin guards have been in use many years formed from rigid materials such as plastic or metal which are attached by the use of straps and other means to hold the guards in place on the players' legs during the rigors of the game. U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,126 demonstrates an early sock used for playing soccer which accommodates a shin guard. U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,791 demonstrates a sock having a compartment for containing articles and a cuff which folds over for locking purposes.
While such prior art devices have been useful, there has remained a need for a sock which will accommodate a shin guard and which will be both easy to use and relatively inexpensive to fabricate. Thus, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a sock for use by soccer players which will hold a shin guard securely in place during play and adds padding between the shin guard and leg of the player.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a sock which includes a cuff and an elastic top spaced along a foldable leg section which will contain a shin guard.
It is a further objective of the present invention to present a soccer sock which can be easily placed on the leg of the wearer, so the shin guard can be properly positioned easily and quickly.
It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a sock which can be fabricated by circular knitting using conventional knitting equipment.
Various other objectives and advantages of the current invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description thereof is set forth below.